


Edala

by Ylevihs



Series: Something Softer [9]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: M/M, Mild Profanity, Multi, Polyamory, adoption au, emperor AU, mild bickering, referenced injuries to a minor, vast liberties taken with how adoption would work in the empire
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-27
Updated: 2016-12-07
Packaged: 2018-09-02 11:42:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8666206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ylevihs/pseuds/Ylevihs
Summary: Adopting a child is not something to be taken lightly, but things still end up moving much more quickly than any of them were prepared for.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [GenerallyHuxurious (GallifreyanOmnishambles)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GallifreyanOmnishambles/gifts), [fedaykin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fedaykin/gifts).



> I have literally no idea what I'm doing

The paperwork had turned out to be a nightmare. Mitaka’s family history had been easy to report. Boring and loyal, through the generations. Kylo’s was. Problematic would probably be the kindest way to refer to it. He had originally turned over his copy to Mitaka with most of it left blank. Mitaka hadn’t pressed the issue but he could see the problems it would raise up. His mother had been a General in the Resistance and his father had been a thorn in the Empire and Order’s sides for decades before his death. There was the matter of his uncle and his Jedi protégés and his grandfather was the one who had slain the last Emperor. Although it stung to admit, it didn’t look good when trying to convince a review board of their loyalty. 

None of them had any pressing issues insofar as physical health; Mitaka quietly checked over what Kylo had filled out for his mental health and found no glaring lies. Just small, understandable fibs in the margins. They would have to take into account his outbreaks, although Kylo had been improving on those wonderfully. Even to Mitaka, to whom the Force was nothing but a mystery, Kylo’s ability to control the Force was becoming beyond masterful. And it showed in the quieting of his temper.

And then there was the sticky matter of the. Every part of Mitaka’s mind frowned at the fact that it was called the ‘selection process’. It was formal and impersonal and had quite a few hallmarks of Hux’s influence in it. Children were referred to strictly as ‘assets’ and the forms themselves had several questions about what ‘quality of asset’ people were willing to accept. Would they be willing to reclaim an asset with physical, emotional, psychological damage? If their biological parents had had unknown allegiances? If they had potentially damaging genetic mutations? Nearly all of the ‘assets’ had some form of emotional trauma, having been ‘reclaimed’ from areas torn apart by the war. 

It had made something deep in Mitaka’s heart begin clenching. He checked ‘yes’ to every question on the form. Kylo hadn’t. And while that stung to see, Kylo had staunchly avoided eye contact when he turned his form over, Mitaka could understand the Knight’s position. Kylo wasn’t the most stable person on his best days and it was reasonable that he would doubt his ability to care for a child that would need extra help. He already thought he would be a terrible father. 

Technically Hux could bypass all of the formalities; wave his hand and open the door to the family Mitaka had always wanted. 

But Hux refused to put his name on any of the forms. He filled them out, he said, so that Mitaka would have a reference for what he preferred. (Mitaka quickly noticed that he’d also checked ‘yes’ to every box, which dulled some of his annoyance.) 

“It would put the child at undue risk,” Hux had said, in the hauntingly familiar tone that he rarely took anymore in private. The one that meant that in his mind this was not a topic up for discussion. “It would make it a target,” but he still wanted to be a part of the child’s life. Its family. Hux hadn’t said as much, but Kylo had whispered it to Mitaka in the back of his mind. Hux had the same fears that the other two men shared; fear of failure and rejection and becoming too much like his own father. It was compounded with the anxiety that if his name were attached to the child that his enemies might come after it to get to him. 

Mitaka’s stomach churned at the idea of their family being an open secret. When it was the three of them and their less than standard relationship, he could understand it. But it was at the point where _everyone_ knew. The tabloids had even moved on to more interesting gossip; news that the Emperor was sleeping with both his Chief of Staff and the Master of Knights had stopped selling copies years ago. 

Even if Hux wasn’t officially an adoptive parent, no one would think he wasn’t involved with its life. Anyone seeking to hurt Hux by hurting his child would still be able to target it. Mitaka had said as much, on a night when he was feeling particularly fed up with Hux’s refusal, and earned himself a clenched-teeth argument and a night sleeping in what was technically his own quarters. 

He wasn’t looking forward to rehashing the same points again and had waited until Hux seemed in a somewhat better mood. 

“I understand why you think it’s a bad idea for you to officially adopt a child,” the three men had been sitting very quietly in a semi-circle. Hux had been reviewing some new legislation and Kylo had been picking out loose debris from the soles of his boots; usually he would have been meditating and Mitaka was grateful for his presence. Mitaka swallowed hard and clenched his fists tightly on his knees to keep them from shaking. After a moment Hux put his data pad down on the table and crossed his arms over his chest. Kylo placed his boot down on the floor, glancing between the other two men. The tension in the pause was sharp enough to cut durasteel. 

“Go ahead with your ‘however’, Dopheld,” he said after a moment, his face curling into a cruel sneer. It had apparently been a longer day than Mitaka had realized. Mitaka took a deep breath and tasted in it the knowledge that he wouldn’t be able to take this back once he said it. 

“You don’t want to put them at risk and I can respect that. But a child won’t understand why they have three parents behind closed doors and only two for everything else. They. I won’t,” it took a great deal of effort to maintain eye contact with the Emperor. The eyes he met remained just on the other side of annoyed. “I won’t have you hide in a corner like you’re ashamed of being their father,” that got a reaction and Mitaka felt slender ropes of regret begin twisting inside his chest. 

“ _What?_ ” and Hux’s voice was dry ice all freezing and dangerously airy. Mitaka swallowed hard and spoke slowly so he wouldn’t forget the things he’d practiced to say.

“They won’t understand why they have to keep it a secret. They’ll say something—not on purpose—but it will be too close. They’ll say you read them a story or brushed their hair. And then what happens? You’ll get mad at them because you’re scared they’ve put themselves in danger. But a child won’t see it like that. They’ll only see that you don’t want anyone to know you’re their father. And you know how children blame themselves,” 

“Not to mention that ‘for your own safety’ is awful reasoning even for an adult,” Kylo said suddenly and Mitaka did his best to pulse out gratitude in his direction. If looks could kill the glare Hux sent his way would have seen Kylo skinned alive. Kylo didn’t wilt like Mitaka would have under the gaze. Instead his voice grew soft and teetered on the edge of accusatory. “Do you not think I could protect them?” 

“That isn’t the question,” Hux snapped, a bit too quickly. 

“Yes, it is,” Mitaka scooted forward in his seat and resisted the urge to flinch when Hux rounded on him. He felt a pang of guilt, acutely aware of how much it seemed like he and Kylo were ganging up on him. “You’re afraid that they’ll be in danger if they’re associated with you, but do you really think that Kylo or I would ever--,”

“I have powerful enemies,” he said and there were the clenched teeth from before. “Even from within the Empire,”

“You have powerful allies, too,” Mitaka said, careful to be more gentle now. “It’s. Lying about that sort of thing, making a child lie about that sort of thing, I don’t know that it wouldn’t do more harm than good,”

“You’d rather they live every day with the risk of kidnapping? Torture? Assassination?” Hux was rising, face beginning to turn red and ruddy. 

“They’d have those risks anyway! I’d rather they never question that they were loved!” Mitaka clamped a hand over his mouth as soon as he realized he was shouting. And then let it fall to his side, reigning his voice back down. Anger didn’t come easily to him and it tasted foul in his mouth. “Armitage, anyone with half a brain will be able to figure out that you’re involved in their life. The only person who will have any doubts would be our child,” Mitaka weathered the glare Hux pinned him with like a mountain waiting out a storm. It would eventually wear him down, but it would take thousands of years. There wasn’t much Mitaka could stand his ground on; but he wasn’t budging from this. The Emperor folded first, looking bitterly away from either of his lovers. 

“So what then?” he sat back down, elbows on his knees, looking between his feet at the floor. His hair had fallen forward so that Mitaka could no longer see his face. “Is this my ultimatum? Put my name on the papers or stay out completely?” he was being snide, voice laced with venom and pain. 

“If your name isn’t on the form than none of ours are. And we don’t go through with this,” Mitaka felt like he might vomit as he continued. “This is all or nothing Armitage,” 

“Foolishness,” Hux spat. Neither Mitaka nor Kylo had a response and so they remained silent, waiting for what Hux’s decision would be. On the edge of recognition Mitaka felt a brush of something that Kylo was pushing towards Hux. “Stop that,” the ginger said petulantly and Mitaka felt the Force recede. He was more than prepared to give Hux the time he needed to think but guiltily appreciated Kylo nudging him a bit. “Give me until the morning,” he said suddenly. It wasn’t a request even though it had been framed as such. 

“Alright,” Kylo answered before Mitaka could offer him more time. The Knight rose to his feet then, collecting his boots, and made to go for the door. Mitaka watched him leave in silence, Hux still staring at the space between his feet. There was a beat of tension before Mitaka rose and straightened his shirt out of habit. He allowed himself a brief moment of hesitation before he managed to put a hand on Hux’s shoulder; Hux let it stay there, which Mitaka was grateful for. Then he leaned over slightly and pressed a chaste kiss to the side of Hux’s head. 

“Whatever you decide, I love you,” he said softly and politely looked away before he could fully take in the way Hux’s face twisted. 

 

Mitaka caught up with Kylo in the hall, noticing the way Kylo’s shoulders bowed in and head remained trained on the ground before him.  
“Stay with me tonight?” he asked, not really concerned if any of his staff overheard him. He felt like he’d just done something downright reprehensible and short of sleeping in the fresher, having Kylo around to assure him he wasn’t as disgusting as he felt was the next best thing. A brief moment of hesitation which had Mitaka’s head pounding and then.  
Thank you.

Kylo nodded silently and they took the next turn, down a side corridor which led to Mitaka’s personal chamber. 

They remained quiet for the most part until both men had stripped down and Kylo flopped face down into Mitaka’s bed. 

“What do you think he’ll decide?” he seemed to ask the pillow he was stuffing his face into. Mitaka sighed and began tugging at the edges of his sheets to get them loose—he hated being tucked in. 

“I don’t know,” he said after a particularly hard tug. It felt like it was caught on something under the bed. Or stuck somehow. Mitaka went to pull again when he noticed a slight shudder from Kylo’s chest. A half chuckle, if Mitaka wasn’t mistaken. “Stop that,” he muttered, feeling some of his foul mood evaporating as Kylo released his Force hold on the sheets. He climbed into his rarely used bed and stared at the strange ceiling. “I know what I hope he’ll say, but,” and let the sentence die in the air. The look on Hux’s face was stuck behind his eyelids like a bad holo. “Was I being cruel, Kylo?”

“You hit a nerve with the ‘shame’ comment,” Kylo said through the pillow. 

“Oh,” it was all Mitaka could think to say. Hux never spoke much about his father and while Mitaka doubted he’d told Kylo any more, Kylo also had access to parts of the Emperor that Mitaka would never manage. 

“He’s scared of losing it,”

“It?” Mitaka repeated.

“The child, the throne, us. It's always in him; that if he makes one wrong move everything he’s built will crumble. In more ways than one,” and at that cryptic declaration Mitaka rolled to better take in Kylo. “He’s not just worried about the child being hurt—he worries that because of his work he won’t be able to spend as much time as he wants with it. And that it will hate him for it,”

“Oh,” Mitaka said again. 

“And then because it hates him, you’ll hate and resent him. And because you’ll leave him so will I, and,”

“I get it Kylo,” he more than got it. It made bile rise in his throat. His skin crawled. “He knows that isn’t true, though, doesn’t he?” and Mitaka caught the dread in his own voice. 

“These aren’t things he actually thinks about. They’re just things that are in him; he’d be furious if he knew I knew,” and Kylo’s smirk could be heard through the pillow. Then the Knight’s head turned towards him. “There’s a room right across from mine that’s empty,” and Mitaka nodded. He knew which one Kylo was talking about. It was smaller, and not only just across from Kylo’s room. It was right next to the Emperor’s chambers. Right around the corner from Mitaka’s. He followed the thinking with a small smile. 

“We shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves,” he said, but his mind was already considering the layout of it. Where a bed could go; a child’s desk. A slight brush and Kylo had wriggled his influence into the vision and painted the walls red. Mitaka openly snickered at that. “Armi will want them gold,” the wall colors in his mind didn’t flicker. “Something in green maybe?” and slowly, grudgingly, the red faded into a dull, soft green. They spent the time before sleep took over decorating a room for a hypothetical child inside Mitaka’s head. 

 

Both Mitaka and Kylo took longer than usual getting dressed in the morning. Kylo lingered in the fresher. Mitaka spent a good ten minutes pressing his uniform until the pleats were sharp enough to slice any unfortunate who might brush against the Chief of Staff. Finally, when they couldn’t really justify any other time wasting, they left Mitaka’s room and made the short walk back to the Emperor’s chambers. It had seemed like a longer walk the previous evening. 

They opened the door to find Hux sitting with his back to them, staring out onto the balcony and beyond it. He’d bathed and dressed. Some distant part of Mitaka wondered if he’d eaten yet. There were mornings when Hux’s mind got the better of him and he forgot to eat. Kylo idled by the door while Mitaka slowly walked forward. 

“Good morning gentlemen,” Hux said, his voice careful and completely unreadable to Mitaka. 

“Good morning,” Mitaka said, equally hesitant. Before he even made it to Hux’s side, the Emperor extended his arm to block him. There was a data pad in his hand. 

“It’s done,” he said, motioning for Mitaka to look for himself. When he took it, Hux let his arm fall to the side as though it were boneless. He looked exhausted, as though he’d been up all night. To distract himself from the rising tide of ‘that’s your fault’, Mitaka turned his attention to the data pad. Where Hux had submitted the forms to the review committee. Complete with his name on them, right after Mitaka’s and Kylo’s. 

Mitaka had to place the data pad on the low table to keep from dropping it his hands were shaking so badly. “You sent it in?” he asked quietly. That certainly got Kylo’s attention. He was over, flanking Hux’s other side before Mitaka could even register that he’d moved. 

“Usually the review process takes a few months. I imagine with my name attached to it, it will be pushed through relatively quickly,” Hux said baldly, not moving his gaze from where it seemed like he was trying to pin the clouds outside into stillness. 

“Armitage,” Mitaka began to breath out but Hux couldn’t have answered him if he tried. Kylo’s hands had shot out to turn Hux’s head and pin him into a kiss. He was blasting out. Something. It didn’t even feel like love or happiness specifically. It was just something warm and electric and overwhelmingly _good_. They parted only for a second before Hux was assaulted again by Kylo’s mouth, kissing every inch of exposed skin that it could reach. Hux finally relaxed into the contact, eyes slipping shut and Mitaka darted forward to kiss at his neck. “Thank you,” he muttered in between the soft brushes of contact. Still caught by Kylo’s mouth, Hux hummed and groped out blindly to his side, bringing Mitaka in closer. Mitaka went further and maneuvered himself around to the front of the chair to slip onto Hux’s lap. The movement brushed Kylo out of the way and freed up Hux from the kiss. Hux’s lips were already pink from the pressure. Before Kylo could reclaim him Mitaka pressed his forehead forward against Hux’s. “Thank you so much,” he felt like his heart was going to beat its way out of his chest and strangle him from the outside. “I love you so much,” 

“We should have an appointment by the end of the month,” Hux said softly. 

 

The first person working for the Asset Reclamation Initiative who received the submission thought it was a joke. They showed it to their coworker who had a good laugh and shook their head. The third person said it wasn’t funny and that it was taking time away from reviewing actual submissions. The fourth had paused and nervously said that their sister worked in the Palace. A minor position. Working in the kitchens. And that on one occasion she’d been sent with a tray of food around midnight to the Emperor’s quarters where the Master of the Knights of Ren and the Chief of Staff, her boss, had been lounging on the couch together. Laying on top of each other. In the Emperor’s bedroom. Giggling drunkenly.

They had an appointment to come in the next morning.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *continues to aggressively have no idea what I'm doing*

The young lady who greeted them couldn’t have looked more terrified if they’d been there to actually attack her. Her smile was frozen to her face and she was almost visibly shaking as she guided them through the facility, heels clicking loudly in the silence. She spoke much too quickly about nothing in particular and stumbled over her words doing even that. 

An ugly little voice in the back of Mitaka’s head pointed out rather loudly that he’d acted very similarly not too long ago. He shushed it forcefully. 

Mitaka was wearing what he could probably get away with calling ‘casual’ clothing, a green long sleeved shirt over black trousers. Kylo had. Well. He’d tried. Mitaka knew from experience that the Master of Knights didn’t own anything even remotely street appropriate. Black on black, a few seemingly useless belts and bands and a half cape that looked much too heavy for the weather. If not for the fact that Hux’s face was plastered on almost every other wall outside the building he could have been mistaken for any stranger on the street. White, loose shirt tucked into brown pants, brown jacket. 

Occasionally Hux would unintentionally raise the tension by passively asking questions about the facilities and how the ‘assets’ were handled when they arrived from…wherever it was they arrived from. Mitaka felt a stab of pity for the woman. She clearly hadn’t been expecting questions about how funding was being used or how they handled pending requests. He asked her questions about the facility itself—it smelled of industrial strength cleaners. It was cold. It left a metallic sensation on the skin. Mitaka tried to force down just how severely this place screamed that it was not suitable for children and failed. 

“What is the child’s name?” Mitaka asked, hoping this question was more in her wheelhouse. She did look like she relaxed a fraction.

“The asset’s designation number is--,”

“Their name,” Kylo said and every muscle in the woman’s body seemed to tense at once out of fear. 

“Edala,” she said and frantically looked down at her notes. “She met the most of the criteria that had been outlined in your submission. You, uh, you didn’t specify an age in any of your forms, besides ‘not an infant’. We believe the asset. Uh. Edala,” she corrected herself with a tremor in her voice, “Is four or five, in good physical health. When it. When _she_ first arrived she was suffering from minor but widespread burns on her body; they’ve healed nicely but there is some superficial scarring and possible nerve damage. She was malnourished and dehydrated but recovered quickly. No signs of refusing nourishment, which some assets display. She has nightmares and is prone to somnambulating and occasionally becomes nonverbal, but only for short periods. Loud noises bother her and she shows signs of claustrophobia that could worsen,” They were approaching the third identical door in a line of six that looked exactly the same as every expanse of grey wall surrounding it. “The parentage however is unknown so we don’t know much about her family history; it’s worth noting as she was found in a site that was held by the rebellion for an unknown period of time before our forces captured it and recovered her,”

“She was found alone?” Kylo asked and again the woman seemed to tense. Any more and she was going to start sweating diamonds. 

Then the woman cleared her throat and made a face. “Most of our assets are,” she said, turning to punch in a code to the pad beside the door and stepped aside. “It—er. _Edala_ is just inside,” 

 

On the other side of the sliding door, a four or five-ish year old girl with short black hair and suspicious brown eyes sat on a low cot, staring at them as if she’d been watching the door for hours and had been prepared to do so all day. She wore a grey slip of a dress, which Mitaka suspected was uniform for all ‘assets’. Just on the left corner of her jaw, extending over her neck, were flecks of slightly raised divots of scar tissue. It seemed she’d been burned by something liquid hitting her. Mitaka stamped down on whatever was trembling in the center of his chest and stepped forward. 

It was a small room, even by the First Order’s signature brutalist style. Enough for the cot, a small stand next to the cot and nothing else. The walls were grey and. Make that mostly unadorned. There was a small drawing just at the foot of the cot.

It was something that Mitaka had noticed nearly all children doing; drawing the same basic outline of what ‘home’ was. He knew that’s what the drawing depicted as the word itself had been helpfully spelled out in a shaky hand above the shapes. It showed a square with a triangle on top. Inside the square was a rectangle that had been scribbled in with red. In other drawings there would be a series of figures standing in a row beside the house. In this particular piece there was only one vaguely human shaped stick next to the square. Mitaka tried and failed to ignore that it had a blank face and how it made that same something in his chest stab. 

Edala’s eyes darted first to the woman, then Mitaka and pinged back and forth between Kylo and Hux more than once. They flickered with recognition. After a moment her brow furrowed and she seemed to sink slightly away from the open door. The woman cleared her voice.

“Asset number one-four-nine-three. These men are here to speak with you,” the woman spoke almost robotically. Cold and scripted. If he didn’t know any better Mitaka may have been forgiven for thinking she was an advanced form of android. Any anxiety in her voice was replaced by something hard. “Is that understood?”

And the girl nodded, tucking her legs up under her body. Before she hid them completely Mitaka caught sight of more healed burns. The woman nodded back and then turned to the three men. “Initial meetings last for fifteen minutes,” Mitaka tried to keep his face from showing the finger crimping shock he felt. Fifteen minutes? But then again, she’d said initial meetings. Surely there would be more. Time for all the parties involved to get to know one another. 

“We’ll take as long as we need,” Hux glanced away from the girl in the room and Mitaka caught the sheepish way he kept his gaze near the floor. He couldn’t yet bring himself to look and see how Kylo was doing. 

“For the average group. Of course you’re free to take as long as you need,” she continued seamlessly, fingers twitching ceaselessly in the face of her returning anxiety. “I’ll be at the front desk if you need anything,” every syllable of body language practically praying that they wouldn’t need anything, thank you very much. Without waiting for anything else she pivoted on the ball of her foot and was gone, clicking down the hallway. Just as he turned back to look at Edala, Mitaka thought he caught her pulling a rude face in the woman’s direction. 

And then there were three grown men standing in the doorway of a little orphan girl’s room, trying to not stare at her. Finally Mitaka took a step forward into the small space. 

“Hello, Edala,” he began gently. Mitaka had always wanted to be a father and he’d always thought of himself as being fairly good with children. Like most people who thought they were good children, and hadn’t yet found out otherwise, Mitaka had been extraordinarily lucky in which children he’d met thus far. The girl watched him move, fiddling with the edge of her dress. 

“’lo,” she said quietly. And nothing else. Taking a chance, Mitaka moved to sit next to her on the bed, watching her every move in case she became frightened by the movement. Kylo and Hux remained standing in the doorway, looking as if the grout in the ceiling was suddenly incredibly fascinating. 

“My name is Dopheld Mitaka,” and the little girl wrinkled her nose suddenly. She only shifted away slightly and it seemed to be to give him more room on the bed rather than avoid him. 

“Thas a silly name,” she said in a matter-of-fact tone. Her face was almost comically serious. After a moment she rubbed slightly at the scar tissue on her neck. 

“You think so?” he tried to smile reassuringly. “Can I tell you a secret?” she nodded slowly. “I think so too,” Edala smiled small and a bit unconvinced, but now looking slightly less nervous. “Do you know why we’re here?” and she nodded again, harder this time, exaggerating the motion. 

“Pisho says you’re here to take me home?” her voice lilted upwards slightly at the end as though she wasn’t convinced. She turned her attention to the two men in the doorway. “You an him,” Edala continued, pointing at Kylo. The finger moved to Hux. “Pisho says you’re here to,” and her voice dipped into a fairly decent imitation of the woman who’d shown them in, “’throw your weight around’. But you haven’t thrown anythin, yet,” her tone said that she was still waiting to see if Hux _would_ start tossing things if she gave him enough time. Mitaka loved her immediately. 

“Pisho was the one who was with us just now?” Hux’s voice startled Mitaka a bit more than he would admit to. Edala nodded again. Before Mitaka could begin to correct her, that it was the three of them adopting her, Edala was speaking again. 

“I seen you both before. On posters,” oh yes, there had been a few choice propaganda pieces in the waiting room, hadn’t there? Not that they’d spent any time at all in the room. She turned back to Mitaka. “You’re not on any,” it was said as an accusation. Mitaka took the only route available to him and shrugged guiltily. Either Edala was satisfied or bored with that line of discussion. “If you take me home, will my name be Mikata?”

“Mitaka. And only if you want it to be,” Mitaka fumbled slightly. They hadn’t discussed surnames. Things had moved so quickly after they’d strong-armed Hux into putting his name on the official request. Mitaka had operated under the assumption there would be more time. He chanced a look behind him for support and found Hux inspecting something on the corridor wall opposite them. Well, shit. A sudden swell of guilt rose up in Mitaka’s throat, practically screaming that Hux. Did Hux want this? Surely he did, otherwise he wouldn’t. He wouldn’t, would he? Just because Mitaka and Kylo wanted--. Yes. Yes, yes he would, said a very cruel voice in his mind. He glanced at the Knight to find that Kylo’s eyes were trained on the drawing. 

“Did you draw this?” Hux’s voice hadn’t had much effect on Edala, but Kylo’s did. The low bassy rumble didn’t have any space to echo in the small chamber, but it was doing its best nonetheless. In less than an instant Edala was on her feet and unceremoniously reaching over Mitaka to grab at the drawing. 

“I drawed it last night when Pisho tol’ me someone was comin to take me home today. I din’t draw you cause I din’t know what you look like,” she held up the drawing proudly for inspection. Kylo took it gently and held it up to better see it in the light. “You’re real tall,” she said, more to herself than to Kylo. When that didn’t get a response, she went on. “You’ve a big scar,”

“I do,” Kylo nodded absently. 

“Did it hurt?”

“Yes,” there was a bit of an edge to his voice, but before Mitaka could clear his throat Kylo changed the topic. 

“Mine too,”

“You’re quite the artist,” Kylo said sharply, “She’s much better than you, Dopheld,” he continued a bit too loudly, nerves making it difficult for him to control the level his voice. For her part, Edala didn’t seem to mind. In fact it seemed like she was beaming. 

“I worked hard on it,” she said, climbing back onto the cot next to Mitaka. She held her arms outstretched and opened and closed her fists a few times in Kylo’s direction, silently demanding the return of her drawing. The Knight obligingly returned it to the artist and she scooted closer to show Mitaka more properly. “I made the door red cause I din’t know what your door was like; ‘smy favorite,” she added on, looking at Kylo out of the corner of her eye. 

“I like red, too,” he said and then stifled a twitching smile when Edala’s own face broke into a firm grin. 

“Thas cause it’s the best color,” she said approvingly. At that Kylo moved slightly more into the room and Mitaka picked up on the aura he was blasting out. Warm and welcoming. With underlying notes, too subtle for Edala to pick up on, of absolute terror. 

“You should look at it too, Armitage,” Mitaka said, hesitating, guilt blasting back into him like heat from a furnace. Aside from questioning the snide comment about throwing his weight around, Hux hadn’t so much as acknowledged Edala’s existence. Hux turned away from the wall he’d been inspecting and almost seemed to stutter on his feet. Kylo shifted back out of the doorway, the room being much too small for the two men to stand without crowding one another. It was odd and rather distressing to see Armitage Hux, Emperor of the known galaxy, sidle into a room. 

His face was tellingly blank. “Good morning, Edala,” clipped words and formal tone and Kylo pulsed out something calming so strong that it nearly made Mitaka’s eyelids flutter. Edala giggled drowsily and Kylo reigned it in, settling for making an obtuse gesture with his eyebrows. “Um. May I see the drawing?” Still cheerful from Kylo’s outburst of the Force Edala held it out for him, swinging her legs over the edge of the cot. Hux took it delicately, as though it would burst into flames at any moment, and looked it over carefully. “It’s very nice. Your lines look steady,” he continued awkwardly. Then he held it out back to her. “Thank you for showing me,” still too stilted sounding. Edala regarded the drawing with an odd sort of patience which really didn’t befit her given age. 

“You can keep it,” she said, not moving from the edge of the cot. The swinging of her legs over the edge of the mattress was strong enough to bounce her frame slightly. 

“Ah. Thank you,” Hux looked back down at the drawing and then up and then very carefully folded it in half. Edala made no move to stop him from creasing it and slipping it into his breast pocket. Mitaka could see it coming from a lightyear away. Practically feel it in his bones. “I’m going to go have a word with Pisho,” and the expression the Emperor made when he met Mitaka’s eyes startled them both. Ingredients of shock, confusion, sadness and a dollop of guilt combined to make something hard and flaky. “When we’re finished here of course,” he tacked on, a little dry in the throat. No amount of credits in the galaxy could make Mitaka realize just how severely betrayed he’d managed to look in that instant. He hadn’t even realized he was glaring until he felt his own face relax.

“Do you like drawing?” Kylo asked, breaking a bit of the tension in the room. He’d knelt down and even then was barely on eye level with her. Edala nodded distractedly; she’d been watching the interaction between Hux and Mitaka. “What else do you like doing?” she shrugged. 

“Stuff,” Edala pulled her swinging legs back up onto the bed and sat upright on her knees. “I can make a real loud noise, wanna hear it?” 

 

Mitaka didn’t have a truly wide range of reference, but he felt they had to be pretty impressive lungs to be able to hold such a high note for such a long time.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *shrugs*

They returned the next day for their second meeting. 

“Thirty minutes is standard,” Pisho informed them nervously. Kylo ignored her and strode about a pace ahead of the rest of them. Hux had been unable to join them and the fact that he wasn’t there had set both Kylo and Mitaka on edge. They both had to go straight back to the Palace after this and had dressed accordingly, drawing even more stares than the previous day. “She is in the Mental Stimulus Room with the other assets,” 

As sinister as it sounded, the Mental Stimulus Room turned out to be much brighter, and louder, than the rest of the facility. Groups of children were herded together according to their apparent ages and given a variety of activities to occupy them. They were, as Mitaka had earlier suspected, dressed in the same grey slip, all given the same, rather awful haircut. It smelled vaguely of freshly cleaned bodily fluids and disinfectant and glue. 

Edala had yet to notice them enter the room. She was seated with a group of about six other children who were being patiently taught the basics of the alphabet. Three of them were looking in opposite directions, distracted by the other groups’ more interesting activities. Two of them were poking and jabbing at one another with the patented childhood standby of plastic make-shift shiv. One was diligently copying the letters with an air of concentration. Edala herself seemed content to play with what appeared to be a mixture of glitter and paste that had gotten stuck in her hair. 

Kylo drew further into the room ahead of Mitaka and as he did, every eye in the room was suddenly on him. Activities stopped. Screaming ceased. Blocks were dropped. Kylo’s shoulders inched towards his ears and. Edala shrieked and sprinted forward, barreling into Kylo’s knees at Mach speed. 

She made a melodramatic whooshing noise; Mitaka imagined it was like running into a pillar. After apparently squeezing his knees are hard as she could, Edala released her hold and turned back to the room, where the handlers were trying in vain to recapture their wards’ attention. 

“I gotta go spend time with my new daddies,” she announced at the top of her lungs. Mitaka felt a brush of pride thrum up his spine and looked over to see Kylo grinning in that nervous way of his. He had a look on his face as though he expected at any second to wake up and be forced back into a dimmer reality. 

A small hand slipped into his own and gripped it hard, the other grabbing at Kylo’s fingers, and Edala tugged them down the hallway towards her room. 

“I drawed you a thing!” Edala informed them, grip firm on the two of them as if they would float away if she let go of them for even an instant. 

“You did?” Mitaka asked obligingly. 

“Uhuh,” the back of her head bobbed as she nodded. “Because, because, because,” she stopped in front of her door and bounced, speaking with each hop. “Last time I din’t know what you look like, so I did it again!” The door slid open and Edala rushed in, snatching something up from her bed and waving it above her head excitedly. “Look, lookatit!”  
Mitaka made a move but Kylo swiftly caught the page and held it up for inspection. Something passed over his face. 

“It’s very nice,” Edala grinned, but there was a note in Kylo’s voice that hit a nerve in Mitaka’s spinal cord. “Take a look, Dopheld,”  
The drawing itself was almost an exact copy of the first—rectangle and triangle house, red door. Figures to the side. Three of them. _Only_ three of them. Edala had drawn herself first, scribbling over the stick body with grey for her dress. Mitaka was drawn at the same height as her. He could tell it was him because Kylo was taller than the house and had a jagged red line cutting the circle of his head vertically. 

“That is very nice,” Mitaka said, “But why are there only three of us?” he asked, doing his best to silence the frantic mantra of ‘oh shit’ repeating in his brain. Edala frowned at him. She looked up at Kylo and then at him and then pointed to herself, back at him and then up at Kylo. Mitaka suspected the look of confusion she gave him was more to ask whether or not _he_ could count properly. “No, I,” Mitaka crouched down to her level and held out the picture for her to take back. Edala took it warily. “I mean—do you remember the other man who was here with us yesterday?” and she nodded silently, eyes taking on a suspicious glint. “He’s going to be your father, too,”  
Edala’s face twisted as she processed this. “How come he’s not here now?” 

“He’s very busy with work,” Kylo said sourly. The child failed to pick up on his tone. Mitaka echoed the sentiment but knew it would have been too much to pull the Emperor away two days in a row, regardless of the length of time. It hadn’t helped that Hux was gone and in his office before either he or Kylo had even woken up. “He thought it was more important,”

“Why?” Edala shot back. And Kylo opened his mouth. Mitaka was faster.

“He’s a very important man,” Mitaka said patiently. “There are always a lot of people who want his attention, and he has to be very careful in how he deals with them,” 

“Why?” she turned her attention back to Mitaka, eyes boring holes in him like the answer was right beneath his skin. Could all children do that, or just this one?

“Because he tells them what to do,” Kylo interjected. “And if they don’t do what he tells them to, they’ll be in trouble,” 

“Trouble?” Edala parroted, head swiveling back to Kylo. 

“He could have them killed,” Kylo spat out before Mitaka could stop him. Edala’s eyes widened but, to his slight disappointment, Mitaka didn’t catch any disapproval in them. 

“Does he kill a lot of people?” Edala asked slightly in awe, moving closer to Kylo. 

“ _No_ he doesn’t,” Mitaka shot a glare up at Kylo, who had made the wise decision of inspecting a spot on the far wall high above Mitaka’s head. 

“Oh,” Edala sounded let down and Mitaka made a nervous mental note of it. “s’he gonna be here tomorrow?” 

“Yes,” Kylo said firmly. He’d better be, his face seemed to say. 

“Good.” Edala answered, firm. Back again was that severe look; she held her mouth tight as though she were eating something bitter and narrowed her eyes until they were barely slits. If she were any older Mitaka was certain he wouldn’t find it quite so comical looking. 

“So,” Mitaka returned her drawing to her, which Edala took and carefully put back on her bed. “Do you—uh…like animals?”

“I _love_ animals,” she corrected. 

“Do you have any in particular that you like?” he went on. “Do you like to play with them?” 

“Jori has a chaakrabbit. ‘snot real though, even if he says it is,” she glanced around the room as though she were waiting for Jori to come out and defend himself. “Jori’s a big fat liar,” Edala tacked on conspiratorially. “Everyone knows it’s a lot of fluff he glued eyes to,” 

 

“We’ll need a day or two to prepare her room and the other necessaries,” Mitaka spoke quietly while Pisho clicked away rapidly at her station behind the main desk. Behind them, in the hallway, Edala was dragging Kylo by the hand over to one of the few windows and pointing out it at something. At some point Edala had rushed back to the Mental Stimulus Room and returned with a handful of glitter which she promptly dumped on Kylo’s head. The tall man couldn’t have looked more uncomfortable if he’d tried. He’d turned that way the instant Mitaka had left to speak with the attendant. Pisho made a noise in the back of her throat that caught Mitaka’s attention.

“You know,” and she leaned in to whisper conspiratorially. “Your own credentials were more than enough to qualify you; there was no need to involve the damn _Emperor_ ,” and she glared at him as though the only conceivable reason Hux had been there the previous day was to make her own life hell. Mitaka felt his mouth press into a thin line. After a few moments without a response Pisho settled back down into her seat. “How _many_ days do you expect you’ll need?” and Mitaka fought back a frown. He’d been expecting the whole process, even with Hux’s name attached to it, to have taken weeks if not months. There would have been time to get her room ready, to paint it. Furnish it. Buy her clothes. Games. Toys. Choose a surname to write on the damn registration for her.

They’d need to prepare tutors for her education. How early was too early to begin thinking about training her for social functions? Who else in the Palace had children around her age that she could play with? That they would approve of her playing with? Would they—his stomach did an impressive feat of acrobatics and smacked his brain with nausea—would they have to hire her a bodyguard immediately? Would she one day want to learn how to defend herself? What if--

Pisho made another sound. “I’ll say three for the moment?” 

Did they offer classes on how not to fuck up your child?

“Three,” Mitaka felt suddenly dizzy. “Three is fine,” and he looked back down the hallway. Edala had released Kylo’s hand and was now hopping slightly in front of the Knight. Her arms flew up with the motion and after a moment Kylo bent down and lifted her. Easy as anything. She wrapped an arm around the back of his neck and sat snug in the crook of his arm, still pointing out the window. They looked light something out of an advert. A proud father holding his excited child in his arms. With glitter coating his hair like a small galaxy had gotten sick on the top of his head. An idea suddenly welled up in the back of his throat. “Can we take her shopping?” he asked suddenly. Pisho gave him a look. “For clothes and. For her room. So she can pick things out?” Pisho’s look didn’t change. 

“Three days to get her things ready. You can do whatever you want with her after that,” and something about the way she finished her sentence gave Mitaka pause. Pisho was no longer looking at him and Mitaka wasn’t entirely sure if that was a bad thing. 

 

Edala squirmed in Kylo’s hold when she saw Mitaka approaching and eventually her wriggling was too much. Kylo managed to set her down before he lost his hold on her. 

“Are there birds?” she demanded suddenly. Mitaka blinked down at her before crouching to her level. Her eyes were bright with excitement. 

“Birds?” Mitaka echoed. 

She nodded rapidly and pointed out the window to where a small winged creature was perched. “Birds!” she repeated. “He says birds live where you do,” and her pointing finger landed squarely on Kylo, who shifted his weight uneasily. 

“There are a lot of different kinds of birds where we live,” Kylo answered her again, slightly haltingly. Nervous and floundering. He shouldn’t have been, Mitaka found himself thinking treacherously. Of course it was frightening. They were meeting. His brain stopped short. This was their daughter. The second Pisho finished clacking away at her station and hit confirm, this little girl would be their child. His daughter. 

“I love birds,” Edala said firmly, with the sort of tone that other people used when they said ‘water is wet’. 

“Do you have a favorite kind?” Kylo asked slowly. Edala screwed her face up in deep consideration of the question. She looked up and out of the window. Whatever creature had been outside had flown off. 

“No,” she answered and offered nothing else. Her attention swiveled back to Mitaka, pinning him down like an insect to a board to be studied. “You were talkin with Pisho?” Mitaka nodded. “You’re takin me home, right?” 

“We have a few things we still have to get ready for you,” a haunted look filled Edala’s face. “But, yes, we’re taking you home soon,” Mitaka rushed to add on. Edala squared herself, crossing her arms over her chest. She looked a mix of terrified and angry and as serious as a five year old could. 

“You havta promise,” she demanded suddenly. “You havta promise you’ll come back tomorrow,” and without warning her face seemed to crumple. “You gotta promise,” and even before Mitaka could register that she was about to cry Kylo had scooped her up into his arms. The drastic change in altitude caught her off guard and broke her from whatever terrible thing was overtaking her. 

“We promise,” he rumbled. Edala sniffed wetly. 

“You gotta promise, too,” she mumbled in Mitaka’s direction, sufficiently cowed by Kylo’s hug. 

“Of course. I promise,” he moved forward just enough to awkwardly wrap his arms around her while she was still being held by Kylo. And he was struck just by how fragile she suddenly seemed. They’d known her for barely. For fuck’s sake, for barely an hour. Tomorrow they’d have a full hour and then that would be it. He’d been so caught up in everything they had to prepare for her, he never thought about how nervous she would be. How terrified. Here were three strangers that, sure, seemed alright, who were going to take her away. Were four..er…five year olds old enough to think to put on a brave front?

“Okay,” she sounded unconvinced and like she was holding in tears. “Okay, if you promise,”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *wipes hands clean*

Kylo stalked off, trailing silver glitter, as soon as he and Mitaka set foot on the palace grounds. Mitaka felt a brief urge to follow and stamped it down; Kylo had been radiating _something_ during the trip back and Mitaka felt keenly it was something the Force user would want to deal with on his own. It had felt like a bleak mix of anxiety and self-doubt and more than a little spite towards their mutual lover. He did watch him leave, hoping that his shoulders would make the descent from his ears sometime soon. As they were leaving the facility Edala had pressed a shy kiss to his unscarred cheek and Kylo had been fidgety ever since. 

Chewing his lip as he walked back towards his quarters Mitaka began making a checklist in his mind of all the things they would need to take care of. Her room, obviously, and all of its trappings. She’d need clothes and toys and bedtime stories—those would be easy enough. Teachers that they could trust would be a more difficult issue. It wouldn’t be practical for any of them to hover over her lessons but it also wouldn’t be practical to ask Kylo or Hux to trust a third party so blindly. Or for himself to, he realized dimly.   
Without meaning to Mitaka had walked to the quarters he usually shared with the Emperor rather than his own private ones. The door was shut tight; Hux would still be working. Mitaka felt a pang of guilt at wondering if Hux would be working through the whole night to avoid the ensuing conversation. It was low of him to think that. Mitaka swallowed hard and decided to go inspect Edala’s room. 

He’d technically passed it on his way to Hux’s rooms but had been so lost in thought he hadn’t noticed the figure standing in the doorway. Hux, decked out in his full formal dressings, stood with his arms behind his back, squinting critically at something in the room. 

“Your highness?” Mitaka cleared his throat and Hux half turned to take him in. He couldn’t read what emotions were going on in those eyes. Mitaka’s own did a cursory sweep, out of habit more than anything else, and found they were alone. “May I assist you with something?” he asked, still verging on formal speech patterns. The Emperor swallowed and took a deep breath.

“Yes,” he said finally. “Come look at this. I need fresh eyes,” he motioned with an elegant, white gloved hand to the room itself. “I gave as best orders as I could think,” he continued by way of an explanation. Mitaka shifted beside him and into the room. It looked. Well, it looked like a man used to brutal starship design had tried to furnish a child’s room. Things were a little too austere for a five er four year old. But those things aside, it was clear Hux was making a firm effort. 

The bed was stark white and metal, but a soft thing patterned with circles was on the bed. An oversized blanket. There was a lamp that would spread sun shapes and cartoonesque clouds on the walls and ceiling. The child sized desk had been painted red. On it was a child’s model of a starship, built to be played with and slammed into things. A shelf had been added to one wall and there was a small version of the very planet they were standing on. A ball. A board game that Mitaka didn’t recognize. Hux had added curtains, a soft, suspiciously close to gold color. The walls remained white. Save for a drawing of a rectangle-triangle house with a stick figure that had been carefully framed. “I thought,” and Hux moved into the room, looking disastrously out of place. “She likes to draw, that perhaps,” he motioned with his hand in a vague circle. “We could put her drawings on the walls,” 

“I think that’s a very nice idea, Armitage,” Mitaka said quietly. Diplomatically. And it was very nice to see the room start to come together but. “I wish you could have come today,” 

“Yes.” Hux replied coldly and it stung a great deal more than Mitaka wanted to admit. To be fair, Hux probably hadn’t wanted to be called out either. 

“We found out that she likes birds,” Mitaka changed the subject. “And glitter,”

“Birds,” Hux echoed and then sighed heavily. “It went well?” he sounded exhausted. Looked it, too, now that Mitaka was closer. Dark circles hung heavy under his eyes and his posture seemed drawn thin. “She seems nice. Smart and,” and the Emperor took a step and pulled Mitaka into an embrace. Mitaka hugged him back, tightly, completely disregarding the open door to the hallway. “What are we doing Dopheld?” and he sounded so desperately lost that it tore at Mitaka’s heart. Mitaka brought a hand to cradle the back of Hux’s head, stroking the small hairs at the nape of his neck. 

“We’re adopting a child,” Mitaka whispered, shrugging slightly and sinking further into the warmth of Hux’s arms, tightening his own hold as he spoke. “And we don’t really know what we’re doing and it’s terrifying,”

“So like being real parents then?” Hux said dryly and Mitaka smiled. Bringing his hands back around Mitaka pulled back and cupped the Emperor’s jaw. 

“It’s just happening so quickly,” and he rubbed his thumbs on the skin, softly so as not to leave any marks. 

“We’d have had more time if my name wasn’t on--,” he stopped short when Mitaka pinched him gently on his earlobe. 

“Still, three meetings that barely add up to two hours? In as many days? It doesn’t seem like enough,”

“Most applicants have months to get to meet each other. They take courses and have comm meetings with the children over that time. People from the service come and do inspections to ensure the home is safe and a good environment for a child. They do extensive compatibility testing. Our three meetings are the officially required ones,” Hux released Mitaka from the embrace. “The Emperor said he wanted a child and so a child he will have,” 

“That’s another thing,” Mitaka nervously straightened his uniform. “We have to choose a surname for her,” the ginger man seemed to absorb this blankly. He blinked once. Twice. And then turned and sat heavily on the child’s bed. Without waiting for an invitation Mitaka sat down next to him. Hux steepled his fingers in front of his mouth and stared at the far wall. Absently Mitaka stroked the fluffed blanket and hoped distantly that she would like it. Although Hux’s face remained carefully blank, Mitaka could guess at a great deal of what was going on in his mind. Having his name appear on paperwork had instilled enough fear in Hux for him to nearly refuse to go through with it. Having his name on the child herself had to be terrifying. But if he didn’t. 

People would always talk. They’d gossip about anything. It was a matter of trying to ensure they gossiped and focused on the things you needed them to. The public eye was easily guided when you knew what sign posts to give it. If Edala didn’t take Hux’s name, and it appeared for all intents and purposes like Mitaka and Kylo were raising her with Hux’s involvement, people would say she was his daughter. And that because of something, anything, he’d given her over to be raised by his staff rather than him. 

But if she took his name. Edala Hux. It would be uncomfortably close to naming an heir for many of the politicians he had to deal with. And it would catch so much negative attention for her, wouldn’t it? And people would still gossip. 

“Does Kylo have an opinion on this?” he asked carefully. 

“Yes,” Mitaka winced preemptively. “He thinks she should take your name,” Hux didn’t react. “He’s furious with you for not coming, by the way,” Hux didn’t react harder. 

“And you?”

“I’m not happy abou--,” he caught Hux’s look and folded, shelving the subject for at least when they were off duty. “Oh. I don’t think she can be a Ren. Not until she’s older and makes the choice to join their,” he trailed and carefully didn’t say ‘cult’. “Group. It’s fine with me if she takes either of ours. Edala Mitaka or Edala Hux—neither sound bad to me. There’s good and bad to both,” Mitaka was aware that he was talking to fill silence more than express his opinion. 

“You think it should be my name,” and Mitaka really, really didn’t want to answer that. He did think so, but it seemed increasingly like he was pushing Hux too hard. Forcing him into something he didn’t want. Beside him on the bed Hux bit at his cheek and exhaled heavily through his nose. “I think it should be too,” he said, throat dry and voice quiet.

“Do. You do want this, don’t you?” It was out of his mouth and flying around the room before he could choke on the words and Mitaka winced. 

“I’m,” and his lips didn’t say ‘frightened’ but every line of his body did. He straightened suddenly and looked Mitaka in the eye and Mitaka saw a resolve there stronger than any metal he could imagine. “I do,” then Mitaka watched as something in Hux softened slightly. “I assume Kylo went to his quarters?”

“I think he went to the training grounds,” Mitaka reported the information slowly. He had a guilty hope that it would be better to let the Knight work out his aggression towards their mutual partner on his own. Apparently Hux’s thoughts ran parallel. 

“Perhaps I’ll leave him to that for a bit,” 

 

Pisho stiffened when she saw, behind Kylo and Mitaka, the Emperor enter the building. Gone was the sour expression and back were the white hot nerves threatening to burn through her skin. Hux had foregone any pretense of being casual about the arrangement. He was dressed fully as the Emperor and was attended by his retinue of guards. Two of them stationed themselves by the front entrance. Others would be on the perimeter.

“Good morning!” she said a bit too loudly. The two other couples in the waiting room scooted closer together and fell deathly silent, doing their best not to seem like they were cowering. “The as—Edala is right this way,” she spoke too quickly and nearly tripped over her chair as she stood. ‘Right this way’ turned out to be ‘in her room’, laying stomach down on her bed and coloring fiercely. Her head snapped up like a spring when she heard the door open.

“You came! They said you would!” Edala shouted, leaping up from the bed. “I made! I made you this!” and as she jumped off the bed, she shoved her drawing at Hux. “Look!” she demanded, grinning. 

“Oh, it’s,” Hux began haltingly. Mitaka caught a glimpse of what appeared to be an amorphous red blob atop a horizontal green thing. “A very pretty bird?” he chanced. 

“I made it for you,” she said earnestly. “You’re all white and shiny,” she held her hands wide away from herself, palms up. “It’s nice,” 

“Thank you,” Hux answered, equally earnest. He cleared his throat. “Edala, I’m sorry I couldn’t come yesterday,” Edala considered his apology like a jeweler inspecting a sketchy diamond. 

“He said,” she helpfully pointed up at Mitaka, “That you’re gonna be my dad, too?” Hux began to nod and then, to Mitaka’s surprise, knelt down to her level. Still awkwardly holding the bird drawing, Hux reached out and took her small hands in his own. 

“Are you alright with that? If I’m one of your fathers?” 

“I really get _three_ dads?” she prodded, little notes of disbelief in her voice. Hux nodded. “Awesome.” her overly serious face broke into a wide grin and she pitched herself forward, wrapping her arms tightly around Hux and squeezing. Not as easily as Kylo did, but still with a modicum of elegance that Mitaka would always envy, he swept her up into his arms.

“Excellent news,” his voice sounded light and easy and Mitaka felt a weight lift in his own heart. “We’ve brought you something,” he turned so that they could both look at Kylo, who revealed a red toy bird from behind his back. At some point between the conversation Mitaka had had with the Emperor, Hux had had a rather… _intense_ discussion with Kylo. It had ended quietly, with the two selecting and purchasing the toy. It was soft and sang a tune when it was squeezed. It would be a toy they would come to regret at two in the morning, but in the moment it was worth it to see Edala’s face. She held out her hand to take it, unwrapping her arms from Hux’s neck and trusting him to hold her up, and cradled it gently. After a moment Kylo reached out a hand and pressed in on the bird’s side. A pitchy and simple few notes came from the toy’s core and Edala giggled, squeezing it herself to test for the same reaction. 

“I love it,” and she buried her face into it. “It’s perfect,” she declared, voice muffled by the toy. 

“Now,” Mitaka began slowly. “There is something very important that I have to ask you, Edala,”

“Wait!” she held out a hand, palm up, to stop him. “Eddy. I wanna be called Eddy,” and despite her firm tone of voice her eyes looked nervous, expecting to be told ‘no’ at any second. “I. I like to be called Eddy,” 

“Alright, Eddy,” Mitaka continued passively. “I have something important to ask you,” he repeated. “What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?” Edala looked at him blankly before shrugging heavily.

“I’unno. We get grey stuff,”

“They give you nutrient paste?” Hux asked, suddenly sharp. Mitaka’s stomach rolled at the memory. Imperial officers had been encouraged to forego solid foods during the war in favor of nutrient rich and absolutely vile goop. It made economic sense. Hux had actually considered writing a law that stated a mandated use of nutrient paste could, in proper circumstances, be considered a sentient being rights violation. The gears turning in Hux’s head could almost be heard. He made a half turn but Mitaka was already tapping notes onto his personal data pad for the kitchen staff. “Eddy,” Hux adjusted his hold and bounced her slightly with the motion. “Would you like to come home with us today?” Mitaka froze mid tap. 

“Papa said a few more days!” Edala was squirming in Hux’s arms to the point where he either had to set her down or drop her. “You said days!” as soon as she was on solid ground she pointed accusatorily at Mitaka with the toy bird. When Mitaka didn’t respond immediately, still a little thrown both by Hux’s decision and ‘papa’, Edala turned to Kylo. “I can go home with you today?” she was breathless sounding. Kylo’s eyes flicked to Hux for a fraction of a second. 

“Yes, Eddy,” 

If Mitaka hadn’t known any better, he’d have thought the child was going to vibrate out of the room. 

“Okay! Let’s go! Let’s go!” she rushed forward and jumped up at Mitaka. He obligingly lifted her and was surprised, unpleasantly so, by how light she was. He hadn’t noticed but it was beginning to dawn on Mitaka that many of the things Pisho had been proud of were things they would have to investigate. Sooner rather than later. Edala balanced the toy bird on her chest and squinted firmly at Mitaka. Tiny hands placed themselves on either side of his face and turned him to look at her. “Let’s. Go.” 

“Okay, we’re going. Take a breath,” he forced a slight chuckle when she inhaled sharply at his command. She clung to him and Mitaka felt his heart in his throat as he began walking out into the hallway. As he left the room, he felt a hand on his shoulder and a pair of lips on his temple. A brief flash of orange filled his vision as Hux dipped and placed another on the crown of Edala’s head. “Let’s go home,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> May your winter season be everything you need.


End file.
